


The Cullens

by VampireGuardDogs



Series: twilight headcanons - groups [2]
Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Battle, Bonding, Books, Christmas, F/M, Family, Freedom, Girl's Night Out, Holiday, Hope, hopeful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2019-09-26 20:45:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampireGuardDogs/pseuds/VampireGuardDogs
Summary: a series of twilight headcanons, all centering around the cullens.





	1. 1933 christmas with the cullens

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy! Come talk to me on Tumblr under the username vampireguarddogs and to see a bunch more Twilight content, including writing I don't post here and moodboards! I also accept writing requests for your favorite ship, character, or group. I love any kind of message, long or short, about my work or anything! Have a great day. :)

they didn’t celebrate christmas for a long time. carlisle hadn’t celebrated since he was changed; what was the point of holidays when you were alone? he made it a point to work at the hospital on the day, knowing that his coworkers would rather be with their families. edward didn’t care about the holiday, he was too busy trying to come to grips with what he had become.

carlisle thought about beginning to celebrate when esme joined them, as he finally felt he had a family to celebrate with. edward told him they shouldn’t. as the holidays drew closer, all esme could think of was how she had been pregnant the previous christmas, and all she wanted to do was celebrate this one with her baby. but now that was impossible. the day passed without any notice; carlisle worked as normal and esme flitted around the house, cleaning even though it was already spotless. she didn’t say much.

when rosalie joined, they had avoided the holiday for over a decade. why change now? but rosalie demanded it. it had been her favorite parts of her life as a human. she loved how her mom had gone all out decorating the house, inside and out. their tree would be huge, filling up the entire living room. the house would constantly smell like cinnamon, vanilla, and mint from the amount of cookies her mom would be baking around the clock. rosalie would always help; it would be the only time she was close to her mom without it feeling like a performance.

esme was the first to agree. it had been long enough now. she still missed her son that had never had a chance, but that didn’t mean she could celebrate in his memory with her new family.

rosalie went out with carlisle to get a tree the day after thanksgiving. edward tried to argue that the tree would be dead by the time christmas rolled around, but rosalie told him to shut up and let her have her fun. it was the first chance she really had to bond with carlisle alone. it had been awkward since he had changed her.

they came back laughing, with a massive tree. their small car looked like it would collapse under the weight of it. carlisle brought the new tree stand into the house as rosalie carried in the tree and set it up. she went back out, with esme this time, to get ornaments and a tree skirt. they also came back with multiple different kinds of wrapping paper. 

rosalie, carlisle, and esme decorated the tree together, overloading it with tinsel, lights, and every single ornament rosalie and esme had bought. and there were a lot. edward had begun to help, but soon after they began, rosalie commented that her family would always listen to christmas carols on their record player while they decorated.

edward had stepped back at this and shrugged; he didn’t have any vinyls of christmas music. after a moment of thought, he went to the piano, tapped a few keys, and then began playing whatever christmas carols he knew. esme was the first to sing along, quickly joined by rosalie and finally carlisle.

they debated doing secret santa instead of buying gifts for everyone, but rosalie wanted to chance to shop for each member of her new family.

she was constantly annoyed that edward’s ability meant he would know what she was getting him. she did her best not to think of it, but edward still had an idea.

rosalie gave edward a few vinyl records of bands she thought he would like, a new camera and film for esme, and a set of shakespeare plays for carlisle. he had recently begun reading his plays, and constantly lamented the fact he was born just too late to see the plays as they were first produced.

esme was given a new set of drawing and colored pencils. she loved sketching new buildings and other designs, and there was nothing carlisle loved more than seeing her ideas brought to life. edward played her a song he had written for her, and a sketchbook to match carlisle’s gift. if esme had been capable of crying, she would have.

carlisle gave edward a collection of sheet music he had been wanting to learn to play.

rosalie had joined the family so recently, they weren’t sure what to give her. from what edward had seen of her thoughts, all she seemed to do was lament what had happened to her and true loss of her human life. they had met when rosalie was out hunting debating what to get her, with edward telling them what he could, while respecting rosalie’s privacy.

esme gave rosalie a book of portraits she had drawn of rosalie’s family members, so that she could always remember them and carry them with her. edward got her her own piano, as that was one of the few hobbies she had as a human that she genuinely loved. carlisle found an old car for rosalie, and told her that they could work on rebuilding the car together. rosalie had always been interested in cars, but her parents had frowned on her taking up such a “common” and “masculine” hobby. the better gift carlisle gave her was when he told her she could be anything she wanted with them. all that mattered was her happiness.

rosalie went out the week before christmas and came back with a cookie recipe book, and an entire carful of baking supplies. she, esme, carlisle, and edward then spent the next few days making every recipe in the book.

they couldn’t eat the cookies themselves of course, so they planned to give them out to friends and other people in the town. carlisle took multiple batches into work, with a promise to esme that he would first go to the nicu and maternity wards. rosalie took a bunch to the local woman’s shelter, and edward took some to the homeless shelter. most went to the hospital with carlisle, where there was a never ending stream of patients and hospital staff in need of some cheer.


	2. turn the page

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> carlisle and bella bond over his library (idea from breakingisabella on tumblr)

bella had been a vampire for a few years now, and she was adjusting well. the family had moved on from forks; they had moved up to a small village in alaska, near the denalis. 

this had kind of been their home base for a few decades now; it was were they kept some of the things they owned that were too fragile to concomitantly be moved from house to house, things they didn’t want to part with but that didn’t fit the “theme” of the new house, or where they kept the “overflow” of certain collections the cullens had. 

alice stocked a bunch of old clothes there. esme kept her paintings, as she couldn’t bear to part with anything she had created. edward kept his old record, tapes, and then the cds he didn’t listen to as much. they had a large house there that had been the family’s house for as long as they had been a family. each couple had their own wing of it to store their belongings. 

carlisle, having been a vampire much longer than most of them, had a much larger collection of stuff he couldn’t bear to part with. the largest of this, by far, was his book collection. this collection took up three rooms on its own. he kept one room, the smallest, for his wide collection of medical textbooks. some he had written himself, and all of the ones he had studied over the years. most of them were long out of date, but he couldn’t deny he liked the look of it. 

the next two room were better stocked than the world’s largest library. books of every genre and style lined the shelves: history novels, fiction, non fiction, poetry, scripts, romance, anything you could want, he had. books had been his escape all his years alone, and he loved every style of book. 

his family often asked to borrow certain books from the library; each had their favorite. rosalie loved sci-fi and fantasy, esme loved romances and cookbooks (she couldn’t eat what she cooked, but that didn’t stop her from learning every recipe and donating to soup kitchens and food banks.) emmett absolutely loved mysteries. jasper loved reasing history books, and alice often read classics, or romances. edward loved the nonfiction books; he had loved learning in his human life but had never had the chance to learn much, with the war and what was expected of a young man in his youth.

but none of his family loved the libraries like carlisle did. so he mostly kept them to himself. he could be found at all hours of the day curled up with a book.

this was going to be bella’s first visit to the “storage house,” as the cullens called it. bella had a few things from her human life she wanted to save, but she mostly wanted to see what the cullens had stored up over the years. the one thing she found endlessly fascinating about the cullens was how much history they had lived through, and the physical reminders of that history. she was planning to stay at the storage house for days, just exploring.

most of the cullens stayed behind when bella went to the house. they were off visiting the denalis, so it was just bella, edward, and carlisle. edward was carrying a box of his cds; he planned to switch them out for different ones. his tastes changed constantly, and he was always looking to re-discover music in his collection.

“bella, can you come with me?” carlisle asked when the arrived at the house.

“i was going to go with edward,” she said, following her husband into the house.

“you can catch up with him later. i have something to share with you,” carlisle insisted. edward winked at bella, telling her she should go with carlisle. bella shrugged.

“okay. see you soon, love,” bella said, stretching on her tiptoes to give edward a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

“so what are you showing me?” she asked once carlisle began leading her through the large house.

“it’s a collection i’ve amassed over the years. i found it immensely comforting in the early days of my life, and i think you’ll find the same. i’ve been wanting to show you for awhile, but i didn’t want to overwhelm you so early in your new life,” carlisle said, stopping in front of one of the only three doors down this hallway. “there are three rooms like this one,” he said, opening the door.

bella gasped when she walked in, speechless. bookshelves lined the walls, all looking filled to the point of bursting. more bookshelves filled the room, row after row. a few armchairs were scattered throughout, with lamps on tables next to them. 

“i want you to feel comfortable in here, bella. what’s mine is yours. i’ve loved these books and books like them my whole, long life, and i’ve always wanted someone to share them with. this is what i want to pass on to you, my daughter.” 

bella stood in the center of the room. there was so much room in her new, improved vampire brain to comprehend things, but she still found herself unbelieving of the kind words her father-in-law had said, or what he had given her, or what this gesture meant to him.

“carlisle… this is beautiful. thank you,” she said, finding herself choked up. she didn’t think that was possible anymore. of course it would be books that would bring her emotions back like this. she ran back to the door to give him a tight, long hug. she tried to shove all the gratitude she felt for everything he had done for her and given to her already, and now this. 

“you’re very welcome,” he said when the hug ended. if bella hadn’t known it was impossible, she could have sworn she saw a tear glinting in his eye. before she could respond, he cleared his throat.

“well, go explore!” carlisle said, waving his hand towards the books. bella turned and ran as fast as her feet would carry her, and began explore the shelves.

edward found them hours later, with a new box of cds. bella was sitting on the floor, surrounded by more books than looked like would fit in their car. carlisle was sitting next to her, recommending some of his favorite books to her. they seemed to currently be in the middle of a spirited debate over shakespeare’s best play. they were too absorbed in their discussion to notice him. edward chuckled, closing the door as his two favorite bookworms bonded over their shared love of the written word.


	3. girl's night out: alice, bella, and rosalie

soon after bella’s transformation, alice and rosalie agree she needs to get out of the house. the first few months of her vampire life where spent almost exclusively with edward and her daughter, and then they were trapped with the mess of the threat of the volturi. after they left, she still spent most of her time with edward and they were sick of it.  
edward heard them planning it for weeks, but was too smart to say anything about it. he and bella had plenty of time together, and he wanted her to spend some time with the rest of their family too. they planned to take her hunting, and play in the forest some.

edward and bella came from spending another night at their small house, and were walking back to the main house when alice and rosalie pounced. edward smiled and laughed as bella expressed confusion. he kissed the top of her head and released her. when she asked what was going on, edward told her alice and rosalie were requesting (”more like demanding” bella and rosalie said at the same time) her company for the day. bella rolled her eyes but agreed; she had missed alice and it would be a good opportunity to get closer to rosalie. they were definitely better friends now than they had been earlier, but they both wanted to be closer friends.

“so what’s the plan?” bella asked one edward had run away into the cullens’ large house.

“hunting first!” alice said, jumping up and down. it was hard to contain her excitement. bella laughed; her joy was infectious.

“race you!” rosalie called right before she took off, running deep into the forest.

“where are we going?” bella asked as she took off running. she didn’t didn’t have as much of her newborn strength as she once had, but she was still able to catch up to rosalie.

“not sure,” alice said, joining the two other women. “but we’ll know when we’re there!” she finished, leaping as she ran, using some of her strength to help catapult her in front of her sisters. 

they ran through the woods, leaping around the trees and occasionally yelling taunts and encouragement to each other. after they had gone many miles, rosalie was the first to stop, sensing their prey nearby. alice and bella had kept running, too lost in the race to remember the reason they were running this far out anyway. they looped back, both bounding to a stop next to rosalie. they both heard it then, the sound of nearby predators breathing, their blood pulsing beneath their skin. they all went hunting, shifting into a crouch before leaping at their chosen prey. they each took down a few different animals, draining the creature before going to another. when they finished, they ran to the nearby stream to wash any blood and fur off of their bodies. 

“what now?” bella asked, drying her hands off on the loose flannel she wore. 

“alice wants to play tag,” rosalie said, laughing at her smallest sister.

“of course i do,” alice said, laughing. “and you’re it!” she said, darting out to tap rosalie on the shoulder, before dancing far out of her reach. rosalie lunged at bella, who shrieked  
and jumped out of her way, landing on the other side of the river.

“try and catch me!” alice called, before darting through the trees. it wasn’t long before she was out of sight. rosalie sighed, but she couldn’t hold back her smile. it wasn’t often she did silly things with her sisters, and she couldn’t deny how much she loved it.

“I could,” rosalie called after alice’s retreating figure, “but bella is much closer!” she leaped across the river, landing right where bella had just been standing. 

“you’ll have to catch me first!” she shouted, now further down on the riverbank. she jumped back across and continued running after alice. rosalie followed, laughing the whole way.


	4. bree's hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> au where edward was at the newborn battle

she watched the scene around her, as the only people she had been around for months were torn to shreds and burned. they were the closest thing to a family she had ever had, and that had only been for a few months, at best. she had lost track of the time she had spent with them, getting to know them, learning to fight with them. some had been lost along the way as their tempers and new quick natures got the better of them, but they were all she had known. and now, she was watching them die, ripped apart and then thrown into a fire by the coven they were promised they’d be able to defeat. bree knew now that a lot of what she had been told since coming to this new life was a lie. she didn’t owe anything to anyone that had brought her here.

they found her. she had been hovering on the sidelines. always afraid of confrontation, of violence, a trait that hadn’t left her even though her new self was perfectly built for it. but she couldn’t hide forever, and the man advanced on her. he was clearly the leader of the coven: all the others had looked to him for the signal to start, waiting for him to offer the chance for surrender. none of them had taken it. but she couldn’t pass up the chance for something new. she wouldn’t die in vain. she wouldn’t die for someone who had stolen her life, lied to her, used her for a vendetta that she was never even told about.

“wait, wait! please! i don’t want to fight,” she screeched, the words barely making sense. the man hesitated, looking for signs of deceit or truth in her eyes. “i don’t want to die,” she said, in a much smaller voice. he could barely hear it over the sounds of the battle, the sound of so much destruction. he closed his eyes as if the knowledge of what was happening behind him pained him. he opened them as he leaped toward her, wrapping his arms around her to hold her still. she screamed, feeling that this was the end, that the man didn’t believe her or had been lying earlier.

another man, a redhead this time, darted into the clearing. the first man looked at him. neither said anything, but to bree, it looked like the redhead was trying to understand something in the interaction. she waited, fearing what he was looking for, not knowing what would happen if he found it, or if he didn’t. after a moment, he seemed satisfied.  
“her loyalties have changed. she’s safe, carlisle,” the readhead said, and then he darted away again, a blur she could barely see, off into the forest.

the man, carlisle she now knew, loosened his grip but didn’t fully let her go. the battle raged on behind them, but it was clearly ending. the giant wolves they hadn’t been expecting began to clear the field. only the six vampires remained: a tiny girl; an incredibly gentle looking woman; one more woman with blonde hair; another man with blonde hair, although he looked younger than the one bree was standing with; and one more man that was just huge. they were walking around the clearing, picking up pieces of white stone and throwing them into the fire. it took bree a moment to realize they weren’t stone. she whimpered in fear, realizing that everyone she knew had been killed by these people. they all died in vain. 

“what’s wrong? are you hurt?” the man asked, loosening his grip further and turning so he could look at her face. bree found it hard to speak. this man was gentle, and didn’t want to fight. but she could stop her fear, not after what she had just watched. he looked at her for another moment, and then looked up, into the scene she was watching. he must have seen it through her eyes, because she saw him nod. “i’m sorry,” he said. none of this was his fault, and he wasn’t the one that should be apologizing, but she was grateful for it regardless. it showed her that someone understand how much this had to hurt. she hadn’t belonged with them, but that didn’t mean the hope wasn’t there.

the other vampires seemed to be done with their collection mission. they gathered away from the fire. bree could hear their voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. the gentle woman looked over at them, and waved her hand, motioning for them to come over. the younger blonde man looked up too. even from this distance, bree could tell she looked angry.

“are you ready to go meet the rest of my family?” he asked, fully letting go of her and facing her, putting his back to them. family? bree thought. he called them his family. she didn’t know that was possible anymore. bree didn’t move. “what’s your name?” he asked, after a moment of silence.

“bree,” she mumbled out, knowing he would hear it anyway. she looked at the ground.

“bree, i want you to join our family. i was serious about offering you safety if you surrendered, and you did. i didn’t want to hurt any of your group. if you don’t want to join us, that’s fine, but you do need to have someone looking after you. life as a newborn is hard, and it’s harder if you don’t have someone helping you. please, let us help you,” he said, reaching out a hand to her. he let it hang there, waiting for her to make her choice.

bree knew this may be the best chance she could have at a new life, at a life that would be better than what she had left behind. her human life was short, too short for her to discover or do much of anything. she hadn’t had much of a family, had just bounced from couch to couch because her parents didn’t want to be parents. no one had come looking for her when she disappeared; she had gone to check, against riley’s instructions. she was truly alone in the world now, after losing the people she thought she could spend eternity with. she hadn’t even gotten the chance to get that close to them. she knew little about them; most of the time had been spent learning to fight and playing with their new abilities. 

she didn’t want to live like that anymore. she wanted a home. she wanted a place she could stay, could build up her life. she wanted the chance at something, the chance to be something. she wanted people in her life that cared about her. people that knew her, were interested in her, knew what she liked and didn’t, knew what she’d want to do. she wanted a life that wasn’t filled with violence. she wanted people that cared if she came home at night. 

she looked up at this man, at carlisle, and then at his family. the gentle woman was still watching her, with nothing but concern on her face. the big man was goofing around, with the blond woman laughing at his actions. he stopped, and leaned in to kiss her, shortly, sweetly before swinging her up in his arms and spinning her around. she yelped, more out of surprise then fear, and continued laughing. the other blond man was holding his arm, wincing at the spot his hand was resting on. even from here, bree could see the fresh mark where one of them had bitten him. as she watched, the tiny girl looked at him with concern, before gently running her hand over the bite. she looked into his eyes, smiling away his pain. this was a family, bree knew as she watched. they loved each other. they more they interacted, the more she could sense that. for the first time in her short life, she felt hope that maybe, just maybe, she would be okay.

“thank you,” bree said, slightly louder now. she took carlisle’s hand and let him lead her to the other vampires, who she hoped may become her family.


	5. Hangout

Esme generally makes all of her kids do something together at least once a month. After all, their cover story involves spending a lot of time together as a family, so they might as well have some stories to back it up. It was rare they had the chance to hangout as a group due to their different “ages” in school, plus being paired off. And usually being off doing their own thing. So once a month, they had everyone get together for the day and spend it together. It would usually happen on the first Saturday of the month, so they didn’t have to worry about school getting in the way.

Often, they would simply go hunting together. They’d make a full weekend of it; running far out into the woods, crossing states to find the big game. Sometimes they’d drive, piling into one car between the five of them (and six once Bella joined). They’d switch off drivers, each of them driving for an hour with the driver picking the music. Jasper exclusively played country, Rosalie played riot girl music, Alice played pop, Edward played a large variety that changed every week, Emmett played music from the 80s, and Bella played a lot of classical.

Their hunting trips always turned into competitions. Who could get the most dangerous animal, the biggest, who could drain an animal the fastest, and anything else they could dream up. The categories changed every time. There were races through the forest, each trying to be the fastest. Emmett was easily the most competitive, and he could get everyone riled up. He was always down for a play fight, although he was annoyed that Alice and Edward “cheated.” Jasper was usually his best opponent. He could win on strategy, but Emmett could win on strength alone. Their fights often ended in a draw. This was the only time they’d all go hunting together, running around the woods and goofing off like the kids they all really were.

About once a year, they would go out on the town together. Alice would usually try to drag them down to a few various clothing stores, buying a bunch of stuff for them. They’d find something like laser tag or mini-golf to do, although they all struggled with holding back. Rosalie, Edward, and Emmett have been asked not to return to a few laser tag arenas on the basis of breaking a few of the guns. They had fun, again, making further competitions out of it and teasing each other as they played. Bella began asking to go to various bookstores on these trips. She could get lost for hours looking through the books, and the others had fun flipping through the shelves, planning the next trip, and people watching. Sometimes they would go to see a movie, but they could rarely agree on one.

So once a year or so they would have a movie weekend. Each would choose a movie or two, and they would marathon each of them the whole weekend. It would be old favorites, classic movies, ones set during the era they lived as a human, or new ones they hadn’t seen before. The cuddles would often cuddle together on the couch or on the floor. Alice would bring in a bunch of pillows and blankets, even though they didn’t need them, to make it feel more like a slumber party movie marathon. It was still fun and cosy to curl up with them, even if they weren’t needed.

Esme tries to get them to take various classes together. Sometimes a cooking class, sewing, different languages, various art classes. They’re not super into it, as they each have their own interests and spend their time looking into them, but they happily go along with it for Esme. In the cooking class, Emmett wears an apron that says “kiss the cook.” he may or may not have started a small fire. Jasper may or may not have been the one to put it out while Bella corrected his technique. Alice took time from the sewing class and made them all matching Christmas sweaters. Edward dominated the discussion in the music theory and appreciation class. Rosalie made fun of him for three hours afterwards.


	6. Surprise Birthday

“Are we sure we should be doing this?” Edward asked as he helped fill more balloons from the last canister of helium Alice had dragged in.

“Edward, I swear if you try to poop on my party one more time!” Emmet threatened, throwing a roll of streamers at him. Alice caught it before it could hit Edward in the face with a roll of her eyes.

“I… I don’t think I’ve ever heard those words used in that order before,” Edward said, letting the balloon he was holding float up to the ceiling. It bumped into the dozens of other balloons on its way to the top, unable to actually get very high. Alice easily jumped up to grab it and moved it to another area of the house where there were fewer.

“I’ve looked ahead. Trust me, he loved it,” she said, handing the streamers back to Emmett and instructing him where to hang them. Rosalie came over to help, taping down the lengths that Emmett had unraveled.

“I cannot believe that you have never done anything for Carlisle’s birthday,” Bella said, putting a bow on another present.

“He never made a fuss about it,” Jasper said with a shrug, putting tape on the last present.

“Oh, shut up Jasper. That’s no excuse!” Bella argued. “You all got so excited for my birthday after knowing me less than a year that I literally almost died,” she added, laughing. Behind her, Edward groaned at the memory of the event and its aftermath. “Sorry, babe,” she said, blowing him a kiss over her shoulder. She shrugged when she turned back, realizing that Jasper was glaring at her. “It’s only fair Carlisle gets something, too.”

“Exactly!” Emmett agreed, running over to high five Bella. “So we’re going all out. It’s what he deserves.”

“Em, we have more streamers to hang,” Rosalie called, throwing him the roll. He caught it perfectly.

“Got it, angel,” he said, running back to the corner of the room where he had been, unraveling the roll on the way.

“Do we have enough balloons?” Edward asked as he tied off another one and bounced it to the other side of the room.

“Keep going until we run out of helium!” Rosalie demanded, tossing another pack of balloons to him. He sighed as he opened them. Jasper got up to help Edward since the presents were ready.

“Will he be home soon?” Bella asked, standing up from the present table.

“Hold on,” Alice said, her face going blank for a moment. “It’ll be another two minutes. He just got off the highway.” Everyone sprung into action at her words, desperate to get everything ready before Carlisle got home. Edward filled up the balloons as fast as he could, until the machine ran empty. Emmett and Rosalie blurred with speed as the looped the streamers everywhere, until the roll ran empty. Alice and Bella readjusted the stacking of presents on the table, making sure none would fall. Jasper went around, knocking more balloons into the proper places.

“What is…” Carlisle said as he opened the door and saw how full the living room was with decorations. Before he could finish, he suddenly had six teenage vampires rush at him for a hug.

“Happy birthday!” one of them called. He couldn’t tell who.

“Surprise!” another called. He still couldn’t tell who was speaking. He had dropped his keys and had no idea where they had gone. His briefcase had been knocked out of his hands and then accidentally kicked across the floor. He felt his coat get knocked off of his shoulders as his six adopted children all converged on him for the tightest group hug.

“I’m sorry, what?” Carlisle asked when he was freed again.

“It’s your birthday!” Emmett declared.

“He knows that,” Rosalie reminded him.

“It’s your birthday, so we’re celebrating!” Alice fixed, grabbing Carlisle’s hand and pulling him towards the coffee table where the presents were laid out.

A few hours later, Carlisle was left sitting on the couch, surrounded by the remnants of his party. Some streamers had fallen; they were littering the ground where they had landed. Confetti was everywhere. The balloons were floating at various heights as the helium inside of them aged. Piles of wrapping paper covered the couch and him, with the unwrapped presents piled on the table again. He was wearing three scarves that had been gifted to him.

“What happened here?” Esme asked, carefully stepping around a few balloons that had popped. Carlisle turned to look at her with a fond smile on his face.

“The kids, they ambushed me,” he said with a laugh.


	7. After The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> alcoholism mention tw for this chapter

Edward led Bella out the front door, his hand on the small of her back. No one stopped them on their way out, and neither said anything. For the first time since they moved in, the house was absolutely silent. Carlisle cleaned up the mess in the dining room, making sure no blood or medicinal supplies were left behind. Esme continued mopping up where Bella had fallen, scrubbing the floors with bleach to avoid any remnants. Rosalie was cleaning up the wrapping paper and other mess from the party.They were moving so slowly, still in shock from the events of the night. Emmett was supposed to be helping Rosalie, but he couldn’t really move. He had just gotten his little sister back. Was he really about to lose her again?

Alice was sitting on the couch, staring into the flames of the fireplace. Jasper had never ordered her away before. Why had he now? She pulled the blanket tighter around herself, thinking of her earlier words: I’ll be quite put out with you if you kill her. He had to know this was different. An accident doesn’t equal a conscious choice. And nothing had happened; she was fine. She had to be.

“I think I got everything,” Esme said in a flat voice. She stood off of the floor and stretched. “Does anyone else still smell anything?” She asked, trying to sound chipper. She didn’t succeed. Carlisle walked into the room, wiping his hands on a towel.

“Smells fine to me. Thanks, dear,” he said. His voice had the same exhausted tone. He lifted his arms and Esme stepped gratefully into them, wrapping her arms around his torso and pulling him close. Rosalie looked to them, a pile of wrapping paper in her arms.

“What are we going to do?” she asked, dropping the pieces into the trash bag Emmett held out.

“That will depend on Edward,” Carlisle said.

“Do you see anything?” she asked, turning to Alice. She continued to stare into the flames as she spoke.

“Jasper doesn’t intend to come home anytime soon,” she said slowly. Esme gasped and let go of Carlisle, running to put her arms around Alice. She didn’t seem to notice. “I… I don’t see Edward or Bella anymore,” she said, curling into Esme as she sobbed silently. Could she really lose her brother, sister, and husband all in one day?

“What does that mean?” Rosalie hissed. Emmett wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her. She broke free quickly, not wanting to be touched.

“I’m not sure,” Carlisle said, taking on the role of leader, no matter how weak he felt in that moment. “Our family may need to be split up momentarily. Or we leave,” he said, his voice cracking on the end.

“Without Bella?” Esme asked, turning to him as her features shows the despair she felt at the thought. Rosalie leaned back into Emmett, needing his comforting touch. He pulled her close to him, burying his face in her hair.

“It may be safer for her. We all saw firsthand tonight the danger of a human being surrounded by vampires,” Rosalie said, her hands gripping the back of the couch. It broke under her fingers, bits of fabric and wood falling at her feet. She didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m too sober for this,” Emmett said, wrapping his arms tighter around Rosalie. Alice turned and growled at him, while Esme just stared. Rosalie gasped, flinging her arms to throw Emmett off of her. He flew across the room, before catching himself and landing carefully on the ground, hoping to avoid breaking anything else tonight.

“Emmett, this is not the time for your stupid jokes!” she screeched, turning to glare at him. Her hands curled into fists at her sides. He just looked at her warily, slowly walking to the table and sitting down.

“Trust me, I’m not joking. I don’t want to lose Bella. Or any other member of our family,” he said, remembering the days when a bottle of brown liquid was his only solace after he couldn’t help his family. He looked to Alice, her face still a mixture of shock and pain. His eyes slid over her and out the door where Jasper, and then Edward and Bella, had left. “I miss the distraction,” he murmured, too low for anyone to hear. Only Rosalie responded, walking back to him and wrapping her arms around him. He rested his head on her chest. She whispered an apology. Alice turned back to watch the flames, reaching to take Esme’s hand.

“We don’t know if that will happen yet,” Carlisle said, bending to pick up the bag where Emmett had dropped it. “For now, let’s all try to remain calm. Things will look better in the morning, once we’ve heard from Edward. I’ll take this outside. Remember, keep an eye out for Jasper,” he said, stepping out of the house so he could let his calm facade fall for a moment. He hadn’t responded well to losing a son, even though his son had eventually returned. He couldn’t lose a daughter now, too. He stood on the porch, looking out into the night, understanding what Emmett had said for the first time.


	8. Esme's After School Programs

In every town they go to, Esme works to improve or establish an after-school program for students at all of the schools in the town. It takes place at one of the schools, and there’s a bus service to take students there if they don’t have their own transportation. It’s at no cost to the school or to students, and it meets every day.

She doesn’t necessarily plan activities for each day; she just brings in a large collection of different things for the students to use. It’s largely her project, but the other Cullens are happy to help out.

Esme always make sure there is plenty of art supplies: acrylic paint, colored pencils, markers, crayons, watercolors, different colors and types of paper, scissors, glue, string, anything that could be used to make something. She is happy to let the kids make whatever they want, always sure to offer words of encouragement and offer advice when they need it. Often, the students ask her for drawing or painting lessons, and she is happy to comply. 

Rosalie comes by most often, and spends her time with the youngest groups. She likes to read to them and play with them. She’ll often end up with most of the younger kids surrounding her, requesting their favorite books for her to read. 

Once a week, she teaches a class for the older kids on car upkeep. She teaches them how to pump gas, check and change the oil, change a flat tire, and jumpstart a car. There’s a more advanced class where she teaches them how to rebuild a car from the ground up. She has them practice on different cars that are otherwise headed to the junkyard, and then donates them once they’re fixed.

Emmett is there almost as often as Rosalie. He likes to sit with her and help her read books to the students, but he can also be found with the video or board games. He brings in his own collection of games, letting the students play with them. He often “loses” when playing multiplayer games. Whenever it’s cloudy but not raining, he’ll take a football or kickball outside to play various sports with whoever wants to. He acts as more of a coach than a player in these instances, but the students have fun and that’s all that matters.

Carlisle is often too busy at the hospital to come by too often, but he makes sure to come in at least once a month to teach a first aid class to the students. He teaches first aid and CPR, making his lessons incredibly detailed and informative. He does his best to include various types of demonstrations and practice sessions so that the students are fully prepared for all situations, often pulling in other members of the family to be actors in them. Emmett loves this.The students are all able to be certified, and the cost for certification is covered by the Cullens.

Bella comes in weekly to lead a book club with the students. She does her best to cover a variety of genres and authors in the book club, putting special focus on female authors and authors of color. She loves preparing different questions to ask, and hearing the students’ perspective on the various books. The discussions can get quite heated, but there’s always more to talk about. It seems that they have new students every week.

Edward comes in whenever Bella does to share and teach music to the students. He teaches piano to a few of them, and guitar to a few more. Other times, he’ll discuss his favorite music with anyone who asks, sharing different CDs that he thinks the student will be interested in. He always seems to “forget” to ask for them back. 

Alice comes in as often as she can. There’s not much in particular she likes to do with the students, but she’s happy to help any way Esme needs it. she ‘ll help teach different art classes if Esme is overloaded, or just help keep an eye on the students. She can often be found outside helping Emmett coach the students playing sports. 

Esme and Bella usually spend at least part of their evenings before the program meets baking and cooking different foods for the students. They are always sure to make plenty of options, and a lot of each food. There’s always enough left over so that students can take some home to their families, no questions asked. They make plenty of healthy options, as well as being careful to cook for students who have various allergies, or other dietary restrictions.

Esme loves leading the program, as it makes sure all students have a safe place to come to. Many students just come because they like the variety of activities; others come because it’s the only place they have to go. Esme makes sure she’s there every single day so that she can always be there to be an ear to students who need it. They find her incredibly comforting, and she always has plenty of advice, but is also happy just to provide a support shoulder and a listening ear.

Whenever it’s time for the Cullens to move onto a new city, she makes sure to set up a grant and find others who can run the program when she leaves. These programs exist all over the country, always providing a safe place for students of all ages to be.


End file.
